How do I know that I have been called to pastoral ministry? This is as important as it is a difficult question. The first step I suppose is to go to the Scriptures. First Timothy is the place to go first, and right away we see some helpful things:
1 Timothy 3:1 It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do.
So first of all there is a subjective desire. Paul speaks of one aspiring or desiring the office of overseer (episcope -elder, overseer, pastor). This is a consuming feeling of personal obligation to lead, feed, and protect the church of Jesus Christ.
This is critical to note when considering whether or not you have been called by God. There must be a soul consuming passion for the glory of God, the word of God, and the people of God. If a man does not have this desire he has not been called. It is that simple.
Spurgeon summed up this desire:
‘Do not enter the ministry if you can help it,’ was the deeply sage advice of a divine to one who sought his judgment. If any student in this room could be content to be a newspaper editor, or a grocer, or a farmer, or a doctor, or a lawyer, or a senator, or a king, in the name of heaven and earth let him go his way; he is not the man in whom dwells the Spirit of God in its fullness, for a man so filled with God would utterly weary of any pursuit but that for which his inmost soul pants….
I have had conversations with guys who have expressed a desire unto ministry, honestly, I try to convince them not to do it. I begin telling them of the difficulties, the constant plowing through sin and sin’s consequences, the overwhelming burden for the body of Christ, the theologically informed pressure of the devil, as well as the realization that my own heart are just as wicked as the devil himself. If God has birthed a true epithumeo, a true desire in the man’s heart he will, in the strength and resolve that God provides, embrace such trials and realities with unflinching dependence upon the Great Shepherd, our Lord Jesus, and serve him confidently.
Spurgeon offers some more counsel about this desire:
We must feel that woe is unto us if we preach not the gospel; the word of God must be unto us as a fire in our bones, otherwise, if we undertake the ministry, we shall be unhappy in it, shall be unable to bear the self-denials incident to it, and shall be of little service to those among whom we minister.
The desire should not be a sudden impulse unattended by anxious consideration. It should be the outgrowth of our heart in its best moments, the object of our reverent aspirations, the subject of our most fervent prayers. IT must continue with us when tempting offers of wealth and comfort come into conflict with it, and remain as a calm, clear-headed resolve after everything has been estimated at its right figure, and the cost thoroughly counted.
I remember a few years back working at Mutual of Omaha, progressing corporately, beginning to see some out workings of what looked like a career and being completely restless. I would sit at my desk and day dream about ministry; I would plan, meditate on Scripture, and be just consumed with ministry. Passages like Col. 3.22 and Eph. 6.6 would yank my collar a bit and remind me that I am working for Jesus and I better get to work.
It seemed like I was constantly engaged in conversations with coworkers surrounding the gospel. I began to realize that it was this…this gospelizing that was the only thing that was keeping me from just quitting my job and going to seminary. The burden there at Mutual of Omaha was not for their Wild Kingdom but for the divine Kingdom. I had to go.
I asked a couple of close friends to pray for me and provide counsel. They advised me to go to seminary. At the same time of all of this I was a patoral-intern at OBC. I reached out to another man I trusted, my senior pastor, for advice. Through a surprising series of events of providence God worked things out so that I could come on staff at Omaha Bible Church to meet a ministry need.
I say all of this to show two sides of the desire calling: 1) I was restless, not for a change of scenery, but for the chance to be freed up from my job to be immersed in gospel ministry, 2) The affirmation of godly men. It is pivotal that you are not just affirming your own desires, but that other godly men whom God has distinguished as faithful men have come around to affirm you. For if they are God fearing they take a passage like 1 Tim. 5 to heart and do lay hands on a man too quickly.
The second aspect of a call to ministry in 1 Tim. 3 is evidenced objectively. Right after Paul speaks of this subjective desire he under girds it with tangible and objective proof. What follows in 1 Timothy (and Titus 1) is a list of 18 or so qualifications that the man of God must meet. These qualifications are to be patterns in the man’s life. I will not go through all of these here but it is important to note that they are really flowing out of what it means to be “above reproach”. The pattern of the prospective pastor’s life is to be one that does not bring reproach upon him, the church or, most importantly, the Lord Jesus Christ. When we begin to talk with potential elders, pastors, or pastoral interns here at OBC the first page of the doctrinal questionnaire is filled with the qualifications and the man is to mark “S” satisfactory, “U” unsatisfactory, or “?” unsure, next to each qualification. This really forces the candidate to evaluate his heart and life prior to such a pursuit.
So in summary, how do I know if I have been called to pastoral ministry? Do you pine for it with an unquenchable desire? Do godly men affirm your desire? Does your life consistently line up with the qualifications in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1? Pray, pray, pray, pray, for wisdom, discernment and understanding. If God has drafted you for service it will become evident to you and to others.
For an additional resource you may want read Spurgeon’s Lectures to My Studens, or Dear Timothy, edited by Tom Ascol. Check out this other article on IrishCalvinist where I wrote on God drafting his man.
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